I don’t know about you, but I have been kicking up my feet and relaxing during this holiday break. I want to make the most of my time off so that when I roll out of bed on January 2nd, I’m prepared with high-quality, goal-oriented songs for my first music therapy sessions and music classes of the new year. And that’s where Listen & Learn Music comes in!
To start prepping for the new year, I opened up L&L Dropbox folder, and turned to the January 2019 session plan. It’s made up of 10 songs that will be perfect for the month ahead, plus it was simple and easy to learn all the materials I’ll need so I can get back to relaxing and spending time with friends and family during this special time of the year!
Some of the goals addressed in these songs:
- Improve ability to greet peers
- Increase seasonal awareness
- Improve auditory discrimination skills
- Increase impulse control
- Improve body part identification
- Improve gross and fine motor skills
To keep things fresh, I decided to start off 2019 with the greeting song “Welcome to the New Year”. This song explains the sometimes confusing concept of the new year, while giving each client or student an opportunity to be greeted.
For many of my music therapy sessions and classes, I like to customize my greeting songs with an itinerary of the songs and interventions of the day. I also encourage my clients and students to greet their neighbor, or pass an instrument around and the child who has the instrument has a chance to play and say hello before passing it on.
“Clackin’ On the Ice” is a winter-themed rhythm sticks song that teaches clients and students about ice, but also focuses on auditory discrimination. It’s important that the children listen to the volume of the music and do their best to match the volume with their rhythm sticks, which is an important but challenging skill!
“Clackin’ On the Ice” also targets clients’ and students’ impulse control. Sure, they might be able to play quietly or softly, but impulse control can be so challenging for many children. This song is simple and straightforward but packs a goal-oriented punch!
I wait all year long to sing “Bundle Up, Baby” with my clients and students. This is a catchy scarf song that motivates children to identify body parts while also learning about keeping their bodies warm in the cold weather.
I like to put the guitar down for this song and model the body parts for the kiddos. Plus, I utilize passing out scarves as an opportunity for making requests as well as color identification. “Bundle Up, Baby” is such a catchy song and all of the children, caregivers, and teachers I work with love to sing along and have a blast while growing and developing!
I love being a music therapist and working hard for my clients and students, but it’s nice to have some time off at the holidays. The monthly session plans from Listen & Learn Music are my solution for work-life balance. With the thoughtfully created monthly session plan, I can ensure that my work is still top-notch while also giving myself some time to enjoy the last days of 2018 with my friends and family.
Tell me in the comments: which songs will you be using to start 2019 off right?
You can listen to all of these songs in their entirety right here. Lyrics, chords, mp3, and instrumental track for these original songs are available for download. As is the case for all Listen & Learn Music creations, we invite you to adapt this song as needed to best serve your students and/or clients.
